B&B: RIDGE AND DEACON SHOWDOWN
■ After Taylor breaks the news that Brooke and Deacon spent the night together on New Year’s Eve, Ridge has a hard time absorbing the damning information. “Here’s where our problem starts,” acknowledges Thorsten Kaye (Ridge). “When somebody says to you that somebody you love has done something that’s completely out of character for them, you’re not going to believe it, right? If somebody tells you something that may have happened before a few times, like your wife making out with other dudes, then maybe there is that little thing that clicks in your head going, ‘I don’t want to believe it but we’ve been here before.’ So, yeah, I don’t know that Ridge necessarily believes that his wife would go after somebody like Deacon, or any other man, because we all want to think we are enough for somebody — but yeah, there is that little guy sitting on your shoulder saying, ‘You know who you’re dealing with. It is Brooke and she follows her heart,’ whatever that means.”
Ridge addresses the accusation with Brooke. “It’s the first person he goes to,” Kaye continues. “She tells him about the kiss, about
Deacon sleeping in his bed that night and everything appears fine. Ridge leaves Brooke’s house, goes to Deacon’s place and an epic fight breaks out. Epic!”
Brooke follows Ridge to Deacon’s room at Il Giardino and interrupts the brawl, imploring Ridge to back off. “Brooke comes in and he basically says, ‘You were with him. You slept with him. We went through this already! The reason I didn’t want to talk to you today is because I don’t know what to say to this.’ When you can’t believe this person you love more than life would do this to you, and when this is presented to you by the man who did this, and he admits to it and is very nonchalant about it and then an epic fight breaks out and your wife comes in and goes to his side, maybe that’s all it takes for you to believe that this is the truth. The shock is that everything else is falling into place. It all makes sense now. Ridge had many questions about what happened that night. That was one thing that he said from the very beginning, that Deacon would do whatever he could to get back in Brooke’s life. This is what Ridge warned Brooke about.”
As for what lies ahead for this duo, Kaye teases, “This is definitely a break in their relationship and I’m not sure this is fixable.”
“I’m not sure this is fixable.”
Let’s talk about the sex on the conference room table scene, which has become a daytime staple. “Or in an elevator [with EJ] or an air-conditioning duct. When Xander was trying to kill Nicole and Eric, he had us in a heating/air-conditioning duct and they [had sex].”
So the conference table was the last thing on your daytime to-do list? “Of course [laughs]. Just throw everything off. It’s the way to a girl’s heart. You know what I mean?”
That little tryst led to Ava beheading Nicole and Rafe’s stuffed bear, Duke. Thoughts on that? “The bear was the one thing Nicole had to hang onto Rafe, even though it was silly and drove Ava crazy.
It felt like her relationship with Rafe was cut off, so it was sad. When Nicole found Duke, it was the turning point. It was either, ‘It’s going to be over between the two of us or I need to make something happen.’ It said so much. It was a threat. That, for her, was a bit of a challenge. Even though she may not show it, she’s still from the other side of the tracks. She still can get down and dirty, but she does it differently now.”
After years as the bad girl, you’re now the heroine viewers root for. What’s that shift been like? “At first I was like, ‘Are they making me good? What’s happening here?’ In the past, Nicole didn’t always make the right decisions. Having been married to Eric changed her a bit. She started to become better for her person. She’s learned some lessons. She’s pulled it together. She’s not switching babies anymore. I’m very appreciative of [DAYS] allowing me to show them what I could do. I’ve really worked hard on my acting chops and studying and going to acting class to show them that this character deserves to be in it.”